Sheet panel wall assembly



R. S/GREGOIRE 7 3,462,819

SHEET PANEL WALL ASSEMBLY Aug. 26, 1969 Original- Filed July 12, 1965INVENTOR I REST A S. GREGOIRE I BY ATTORNEY United States Patent3,462,819 SHEET PANEL WALL ASSEMBLY Resta S. Gregoire, Newport, Pa.,assignor to Gregoire Engineering and Development Co., Adelphi, Md.

Original application July 12, 1965, Ser. No. 475,305, now

Patent No. 3,376,679, dated Apr. 9, 1968. Divided and this applicationNov. 17, 1967, Ser. No. 684,576

Int. Cl. 1323p 17/00; E04b 2/00 US. Cl. 29-155 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE The present invention comprises the method of forming atriangular channel strip of resilient material having a prescribednormal gap at the open apex thereof smaller than the spring-back gapwhich could be obtained by normal break-forming so that the strip couldbe used as a lock strip with the gap edges resiliently pressing onopposite sides of a double thickness of sheet material over which theyare mounted, as in the case of such lock strip holding the channelflanges at the two edges of adjacent sheet panels joined together insealing relation, the double thickness of this sheet material being lessthan said springback gap. The method includes a step for reducing thespring-back gap, by bending the bottom of the channel outwardly bypressing a plate die against the middle of said bottom, the plate havinga maximum thickness of said double thickness of sheet material, wherebythe required normal gap which is less than said double thickness afterspring-back,'may be obtained.

This is a division of pending application Ser. No. 475,305, filed July12, 1965, for Sheet Panel Wall Assembly, which issued on Apr. 9, 1968,as Pat. No. 3,376,679, and the invention relates to walls of sheetpanels and joints of the type which can be manually assembled on the jobto provide a rigid support frame for the wall being constructed, axiallyof said joints, without requiring any tools, bolts, nuts, screws or anyother attaching means, and without puncturing any parts of the paneljoint as well as a method of making clip strips for said joints.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method of making atriangular channel strip with a gap between the outer edges of the sidesof the channel which is less than the spring-back of said strip materialafter the process of break-forming the base angles of the channel.

Other and more specific objects will become apparent in the followingdetailed description of a preferred form of the invention, asillustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a wall portion made of panels showing anin-line joint and a corner joint between adjacent panels, in accordancewith the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of said wall portion,

FIG. 3 is a rear view of said wall portion taken on the line 3-3 of FIG.1,

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of said wall portion taken on theline 44 of FIG. 2,

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 55 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 66 in FIG. 3,

FIG. 7 illustrates the break forming method of making a triangle-formedclip strip with a channel opening, which is less than the spring-back ofthe sides obtained in their break-forming process, and

FIG. 8 shows the shape said triangle-formed channel 3,462,819 PatentedAug. 26, 1969 takes after the bottom of the triangle has been flattenedby the edge of a pressure plate passed through the gap between the sidesof the triangle.

The panels used in the present invention may have any configurationbetween their side edges 10, but these edges have identically formedchannel flanges 12 which are clipped together by means of the closelyspaced outer edges 14 of the opposite sides 16 of a channel strip toform a sealed joint between adjacent panels.

The drawing illustrates an assembly of a joint 18 between aligned panelsin the same plane and a joint 20 between corner panels joinedperpendicularly to each other. However, it is to be understood thatsimilarly formed channel strips may be made for corner panels joined atother angles to each other.

The triangle-formed channel strip 22 is adapted for sliding endwiseduring assembly over the channel flanges 12 of the adjacent alignedpanels to firmly clip the flanges together along their entire length, bya pressure line contact x of the outer edge of each side of the channelstrip against the inside of the corresponding flange 12. The outer edgesof the channel flanges 12 extend into the inner bottom corners of thechannel strip 22 to keep the channel flanges 12 of the adjacent panelsaligned and to keep the clip at the outer edges of the channel stripsides 16 from sliding outwardly of the flanges 12.

A second channel strip 24 may be fixed in the bottom of the channel ofthe channel strip 22 and have its sides extend around the outer edges offlanges 12 to provide a sliding fit thereover during assembly,maintaining only substantially six points of pressure line contacts xbetween channel strip assembly and the channel flanges 12 in the joint,thus reducing the sliding friction to a minimum in said sliding fit,while maintaining substantially continuous sealing line contacts atthese points. The corners at the ends of the channel strips 22 and 24 atthese contact points may be flared out to facilitate starting thesliding operation of the channel strip assembly over the ends of thechannel flanges 12 at each joint, as shown e.g. at the bottom of thesides 16 of the lock strip portion shown in FIG. 5. Obviously, thechannel strip assembly provides a strong reenforcement to the wallassembly so that no additional framework is normally required in a wallassembly of these panels, even if the sheet material used for formingthe panels and the channel strips is of very small gage. The wall iseasily assembled without the use of any screws, bolts, nuts or otherattachments and without puncturing or deforming any parts of theassembly, so that the wall may be just as easily and quicklydisassembled and moved to new locations whenever desired, withoutdetriment to its good sealing characteristics at the joints.

Similar channel strip assemblies are used for assembling corner jointsas for the in-line panel joints described above. A right angle joint 20is shown in the drawing for illustration. The sides 16 and the cornersat the bottom of the channel strip 22 and the sides of the inner channelstrip 24' are identically formed to those in the channel strip assemblyfor the in-line joint 18. The bottoms of channel strips 22' and 24',however, are separated by extending the bottom of strip 24' into angularspace to form a hollow post of comparatively greater strength to form acorner post assembly, which is slid over the ends of the flanges 12 ofthe adjacent corner panels similarly to the assembly of the in-linejoint, and has similar six points of pressure line contacts to keep theedges of corner panels in proper angular alignment and to provide asgood a sealing joint.

The sheet material used for the panels as well as the channel strips maybe steel or any other material having suitable resilience to providesufficiently strong clipping 3 means for the joints as well as framesupports for the wall.

In forming the triangle-formed channel strip, where a sufiiciently smallgap between the outer edges of the sides 16 cannot be formed by abreak-forming machine because the spring-back of the sides is more thanthe said gap, the strip may be break-formed into a W crosssection asshown in FIG. 7, with the angles between the inner and outer legs 26 and28 of the W substantially equal to the required base angles (about 70 inthe present case) of the triangle form that will produce the desiredgap, when the inner legs are straightened out to form the base of saidtriangle form. Then, by pressing down on the ridge formed by the innerlegs 26 until it is substantially flat, by means of the edge of a flatplate 30, of a thickness not greater than the required gap, the propergap may be obtained. This method may also be used for controlling thesize of gaps in triangular grooves formed in sheet panels such asdisclosed in my prior patent application S.N. 194,339, filed May 14,1962, for Panel and Joint, which issued on Mar. 22, 1966, as Patent No.3,241,284, where a minimum gap is desired merely to provide enoughclearance to allow for heat expansion of the adjacent faces of the panelwithout buckling.

Many obvious modifications in the form and relations of parts may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a triangular channel strip of resilient sheetmaterial normally having a desirably small gap between the outer edgesof the converging sides of the channel which gap is less than thespring-back of said sides from a closed gap break-form position of saidsides, comprising break-forming a triangular channel strip with a gapbetween the outer edges of the converging sides larger than saidspring-back,

bending the bottom of said channel outwardly between the bottom cornersof said channel strip a desired amount by pressing the edge of a platedie through said gap against said channel bottom, said plate having athickness no greater than the sum of said spring-back and the desiredgap.

2. A method of forming a triangular channel strip of resilient sheetmaterial normally having a desirably small gap between the outer edgesof the converging sides of the channel which is less than thespring-back of said sides from a closed gap break-form position of saidsides, comprising break-forming a strip into a W-shaped cross-section,

having substantially parallel outer sides and a suitable angle betweenthe inner legs, the opposite angles at the other ends of the inner legsbeing of the required size to provide said desired gap when said legsare flattened into a substantially straight bottom of said triangularchannel,

placing said strip on a flat surface with the W in upright position, and

pressing the top of the ridge formed by said inner legs by means of theedge of a flat plate die substantially no thicker than said desired gapuntil said inner legs are substantially a continuous flat bottom of atriangular channel bringing the outer edges of said outer sides of the Wto bear substantially against the opposite sides of said flat plate, sothat they will provide the desired gap.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 537,569 4/1895 Flatan 524671,427,007 8/1922 Halder 52471 2,115,441 4/ 1938 Black. 2,172,806 9/1939Probeck 29-155 3,002,591 10/1961 Hess 287189.36 3,070,186 12/1962 Meek52615 3,129,493 4/1964 Grubb 29-155 THOMAS H. EAGER, Primary ExaminerU.S. CLXR.

52288; ll3l 16; 287189.36

